Gold Coast 2018 Preview Episode
We've barely been gone a month and already we're back on your airwaves as we get excited to cover our very first Commonwealth Games in the lead up to the biggest sporting event in Australia this decade, the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast! Just how excited are Ben, Jarrod & Colin for the games? Does Canada even give two hoots that they're on? Will Jarrod be driving 8 hours to the Gold Coast to watch them? Why is Ben the most excited of the three? What will their medal predictions be? And do we finally have a decent mascot? Tune in and get excited for the best multi-sport event featuring lawn bowls and netball!
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Please note this is an automated transcript that may contain errors.
BEN WATERWORTH: Hello everybody, and welcome back to Off The Podium, a Commonwealth Games podcast, at least for the coming month or so, as we kind of switch focus slightly. We're finished with Pyeongchang, we ignore the Paralympics, sorry about that. And we're on to the next big multi-sport event that features Australia and Canada, the Commonwealth Games, which are of course about to happen on the beautiful Gold Coast. Very excited for these. I'm probably more excited than the other two on this podcast, I don't know, but we thought we'd do a little bit of a preview episode today and talk up Commonwealth Games and what we can expect. Joining us from the big city, no doubt, for the 2030 Commonwealth Games in Emu Plains, it is Jarrod Loobeek. Jarrod, welcome back to the program.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Thank you, it's good to be back.
BEN WATERWORTH: And joining us from the big city for the 2034 Commonwealth Games in Winnipeg, Manitoba, it is Colin Hilding. Colin, welcome back.
COLIN HILDING: Thank you, it's good to be part of the Commonwealth.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yes, isn't it just? What an amazing organisation the Commonwealth is. So relevant still in 2018, just beautiful, exciting. To me, the only thing that I care about being in the Commonwealth are the Commonwealth Games because I have a real soft spot for this event, just given that growing up, it was always the fun one to watch because you knew Australia were going to walk away with like 38,000 medals. I think it's kind of, as I've grown older, has lost a bit of its spark. I don't think it's as big a deal as it once was, but I still enjoy it. I'm still very excited. And obviously, I'm going to have a bit more of a personal connection to it this time around. But, Jarrod, as an Australian, what did the Commonwealth Games mean to you growing up? And what do they mean to you today? Give us your memories and everything to do with the Commonwealth Games.
JARROD LOOBEEK: I think similar to you. I think growing up, they were amazing and they've kind of lost a bit of that shine. But I just love the fact that I get to see sport that I normally wouldn't get to see on free to air TV. So yeah, I think I just love the athletics. Favourite moments probably have come from the athletics. I think the marathon in particular has been a bit of a gold mine for Australia in the Commonwealth Games, which is nice because we don't tend to do as well at the Olympics. So I think that event is just kind of the standout of the Commonwealth Games.
BEN WATERWORTH: It always seemed to be like the, I don't want to say the mum event, didn't it? Because we always kind of had every four years, there would be some female athlete from Australia who had gone off and had a couple of children and then, you know, gotten into great shape and then won it. Wasn't it Kieran McCann or somebody like that? And there was another one, I think, did it in four years later. I think one of them sadly passed away recently, but that's what it always reminds me of, the marathon. Is it McCann? Is that the right person I'm thinking of?
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, I remember, I think it was 2006 when she was in kind of that battle with the Kenyon runner and kind of was going back and forth, back and forth. And being a typical Australian, I thought, oh, well, she's going to lose this and choke at the last kind of 200 metres, but she went on to win. And that was exciting, too, because I think when the marathon being such a long event does come down to kind of the final sprint inside the stadium, I think that's just epic.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, Karen McCann, I'm seeing here that her name was. And yes, sadly, she passed away in 2008. I think she had cancer or something along those lines. It was an inspirational story at the time. And yes, she won in Manchester as well. I was going to say, I swear somebody did it in 2002 as well, but it was the same person. So there you go. Colin, we kind of, I think, loosely went over a little bit of the Commonwealth Games from a Canadian perspective at the end of our Pyeongchang coverage. But I guess memories for you, as we kind of discussed off there, it's a bit hard to find inspirational Commonwealth Games moments from Canada and their history. Tell us about Canada, your history, the Commonwealth Games, everything else in between.
COLIN HILDING: Well, the Commonwealth Games, I guess the first time I became aware of it, or most Canadians probably became aware of it, at least in my generation, was when we had it here in 1994. And it was a huge deal then. I think I had just gotten into the Olympics with Barcelona and then, you know, 94 was Lillehammer. So the Commonwealth Games after that, I'm like, oh, wow, it's like more Olympics. And you know, Canada is doing well. This is incredible. But I can remember pretty much everything with that. It was on TV like CBC had their coverage day and night, just like the Olympic coverage we have now. Outside of that, it's always been on TV, but it's been maybe just on TSN or the sports channels or CBC might have afternoon coverage on the weekends or recaps in the evening. But it's kind of hit and miss as to whether we're going to get good coverage or not. So to be perfectly honest, outside of Vancouver, the only one that I really remember watching was a good amount from Glasgow last time, just because I had the time to watch it because I wasn't doing much. And I can't tell you much about what happened in Victoria or any other. You kind of asked me before, what are the big Commonwealth moments for Canada? Really, the only thing I remember, because if you go over the medallists from past Commonwealth Games, it's kind of like the precursor to who's going to be good in the next Olympics. But the one exception would be Ryan Cochran, who I know we talked about in Rio, that it was kind of his final Olympics. And this was like Canada's greatest swimmer for the longest time. Now we've got like Penny Lexiak and everything else. But Ryan Cochran was this guy who just kept Canada alive in swimming for over a decade. And yet he always sort of failed to really win a big event or he'd always come bronze or fourth place here and there. And in Glasgow, I just remember Ryan Cochran because I knew who he was. He wasn't one of these newer athletes, just winning pretty much everything and maybe again, not realising, oh, well, half the countries aren't in this event, but still it was like an exciting moment to see this guy that you've been rooting for for over 10 years finally kind of get his due, which gave me false expectations when it came to this past Olympics. And then he kind of flopped.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, it's I mean, it's kind of interesting just out of the phrase famous Commonwealth Games moments, because I mean, even Australia, like, I mean, we're one so many that there's nothing really that stands out. I mean, I the first ones I remember watching was Victoria in 94 and kind of I vaguely remember watching the opening ceremony, you know, seeing Kieran Perkins, I think Kathy Watt was still at a peak in the cycling. Obviously, that was famous in Australia. Well, here we go. Just I'm contradicting myself. Kathy Freeman, I think probably the maybe the most famous one, I think, was Kathy Freeman winning that gold in 94 and then doing the lap of the stadium with both the Australian and Aboriginal flag, which caused a bit of controversy in Australia. But, yeah, I mean, I remember a lot of 98 in Kuala Lumpur. I have found when I was moving recently, I've still got like a newspaper sort of activity kit for kids about the 98 Commonwealth Games. I think Manchester 2002, I found recently a bunch of old cassettes that I recorded radio commentary of, which I've now got on my computer of the 2002 Commonwealth Games. Obviously, Melbourne was a big deal in Australia, having them in 2006 sadly didn't get to go to them. But, you know, ultimately, I'm about to go to one now. And then, you know, Delhi and Glasgow kind of seemed to fade away slightly for me because didn't Jarrod, Channel 10 had the last two, I believe, in terms of the coverage. I know Channel 9 had them in 2006 and then 7 haven't had them since 2002. And we're about to say, yay, Channel 7 cover the Commonwealth Games. But it's interesting to hear that, Colin, kind of again that it fluctuates how Canada cares about it because you're kind of in a unique position that you also have the Pan-Am Games and the Canada Games. Canada are just all filled with multi-sport events. Is this just your way of training yourselves for Olympics so you can actually start winning medals in the Summer Games?
COLIN HILDING: Well, you'd think that, but we're going to go over some dropouts that we've had in the last 24 hours that we're very upset about here, but just go along with what I was saying about Canada maybe being inconsistent with TV coverage and stuff like that because I can remember watching this, but you had said, oh, what's the famous Canadian moment or whatever. I Googled the 1500 metre from Glasgow, which I remember watching, where Ryan Cochran beat Mack Horton, and guess what TV coverage they have on YouTube.
BEN WATERWORTH: I'm guessing the Australian coverage maybe.
COLIN HILDING: Channel 10. Who's Lachie Reed? Is this your commentator?
BEN WATERWORTH: Lachie Reed? Maybe Lachie?
COLIN HILDING: Lachie?
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah. Let's call the esteemed swimming commentator. Jarrod, we're very familiar with him. Grew up one of the best broadcasters in this country. Couldn't tell you, Colin. Obviously, he thought he was busy that weekend or something like that. I don't know. Well, there you go. There's one for the introduction, if you haven't already heard that. So far, here on Off The Podium. Possibly haven't put it together yet by the time we're recording this. Yeah, it's fascinating who you get and athletes taking these seriously or not. I, for those who don't know and haven't paid attention to any of the shows, I'm on the Gold Coast. Well, I'm actually technically Brisbane. I'm sort of halfway between the Gold Coast and Brisbane, where I am right now. And I'll be working during the Commonwealth Games. So it's kind of interesting, all the attention and everything that's here. And the other day, I had to go get my accreditation, my uniform, all this sort of stuff. And kind of it's my first real taste of actually going to like an actual venue with all the signage and just kind of it. It was actually quite exciting because I've never been to a multi-sport event before like this before. You know, it's kind of very exciting for me to experience this. Colin, obviously, you went to the Canada Games a lot last year, and Jarrod, you, of course, have said you, I think, I remember a lot when Sydney was on back in 2000. I think you said you even went to some events. So I mean, I'm very excited for this. Jarrod, did you ever have any, you know, desire to go to these games to watch them or back in Melbourne in 2006? Is that something that, you know, tickles you fancy enough that you would travel to see the Commonwealth Games if they're in your own country?
JARROD LOOBEEK: I mean, I would probably go there in Sydney now. I think the Olympics were kind of a big thing. And then since we had like a lot of Commonwealth Games around that time, it just was kind of something that I never got to. But definitely, yeah, when they come back around to Australia, which I'm sure will be soon, given the fact that nobody wants to host them anymore, I will definitely think about it.
BEN WATERWORTH: Well, I hear they're actually going to be in Australia maybe in about three weeks. So you might want to start thinking about them pretty soon. How long is the drive from Sydney to the Gold Coast? I'm just trying to quickly type that in now into Google Maps so I can get a bit of an inkling. It's only a nine-hour drive. You can make that in a day or so, well, a day. Come on, start driving now, Jarrod. You could be here tomorrow.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, yeah, just set me up at an air bed and I'll be ready.
BEN WATERWORTH: Colin, does Canada care more about the Pan Am games than the Commonwealth games I'm taking then?
COLIN HILDING: Oh, I thought you were going to ask me how long the drive was from Winnipeg there.
BEN WATERWORTH: Oh, well, I mean, we can work that out if you want, but...
COLIN HILDING: Yeah, you do the math on that. I mean, I would say yes, which is funny because it's actually even less competitive. You think we'd want the most competitive ones, but probably also just because the Pan Am games, I mean, we had Victoria in 94 and I know Edmonton had had it and I think some place in the Maritimes had it, maybe in the 50s. So I mean, Canada's had Commonwealth Games a couple of times, but Pan Am games, particularly here in Winnipeg, Winnipeg has had it twice, we're the only city anywhere that's had the Pan Am games twice. Toronto just had it recently. And maybe because it's just perfectly timed where Canada gets the Pan Am games once every generation or so, that it's maybe considered a little bit more relevant. It could also just be the time of year too, because we're here in March right now previewing this. It's going to be covering it in April, and Pan Am games will run just like the Olympics is going to be during the summer when everybody's at home and on vacation and stuff like that. So there's probably going to be a little bit more coverage for it. That could be one of the main reasons why.
BEN WATERWORTH: Just before I say that, you can get a flight here from Winnipeg to the Gold Coast, flying China Eastern. You will have to go from Winnipeg to Vancouver, Vancouver to Shanghai, Shanghai to Sydney, then Sydney to Gold Coast. It's going to take you 65 hours and 15 minutes, but it's only going to cost you $1,301. So do you want me to book it for you while I'm there?
COLIN HILDING: Well, I mean, I'm going to go with Jarrod. If it's ever in Sydney, I'll go with him instead of you because it's one less stop.
BEN WATERWORTH: You may as well just fly to Sydney and then just get a car ride up here. I mean, it's another nine hours, but at least 65 hours is going to take you. Yeah, I mean, obviously, we kind of mentioned Canada. You haven't had them since 1994. You guys are so overdue, I think, for the Commonwealth Games because before that, it was 78 in Edmonton. Then you had them in 54 in Vancouver. Montreal had them in 1942, and Hamilton all the way back, the very first ones in 1930, unless you count the Inter-Empire Championships in 1911, which nobody does. But I think you guys are up for it in 2026 from memory, looking at it there possibly. But yeah, it's interesting the timing they have with the games, because I think it's not like the Olympics, which winter are always going to be in February, and then summer are generally always in July, August. I think, exception with us, we had them in September, because I think ultimately comes down to our climate in the Southern Hemisphere. But yeah, I remember Melbourne was in March, and then ultimately the ones four years ago in Scotland were in July and August, in Delhi in 2010, they were in October. So it's kind of just whenever they want to host them, essentially in Victoria, they were in August as well. But I mean, I kind of like them being early. I don't know about you, Jarrod, do you like them sort of being a little bit earlier in the year? I mean, to me, given that we both all love the Winter Olympics, it's kind of like we're really, really quickly into these straight after the Winter Olympics.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, no, I think it's good. I think there's so many sporting events that are across a similar time scale of every four years. So it's potentially a little bit nicer to have them spread throughout the year. But I think the fact that it's the Winter Olympics than the Commonwealth Games, you kind of don't get burned out just because it is different events.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, and I was like, oh, so I like every four years this period where ultimately we have the World Cup Soccer as well. There's always three big ones for me every four years that you have the Winter Olympics, Commonwealth Games and the World Cup. And the difference too, of course, of the Commonwealth Games is for the most part, they're all very similar sports to the Summer Games, Summer Olympics, but ultimately there's a few different ones. And also, they seem to have a lot more leeway with the sports that they have in the Commonwealth Games. So, I mean, for those at home who aren't overly familiar, obviously, our Olympic sports, we have good athletics, badminton, basketball, back, which always seems to come and go in the Commonwealth Games, beach volleyball, which I believe is the first time that's ever been in the Commonwealth Games. That will, of course, Gold Coast, you assume, is going to have a beach volleyball. Boxing, of course, cycling, diving, gymnastics, hockey. We also have rugby, sevens, shooting, swimming, table tennis, triathlon, weightlifting and wrestling, which I'm going to question why that's a Commonwealth Games sport soon. But I'll get to that. I'll get to that. And then the non-Olympic sports that we have in the Commonwealth Games, of course, squash. Jarrod, I think that's a personal favourite of yours. I mean, powerlifting, which, I mean, technically is a Paralympic sport, but they obviously include the power sports within the sort of the non-power sports in a Commonwealth Games. We have Colin's favourite netball and, of course, everyone's favourite, lawn bowls. Now, let's just talk about the non-Olympic sports here. Jarrod, you play netball. You, I guess, have played squash. I mean, you seem to be a fan of squash, lawn bowls. What's your favourite out of the non-Olympic sports there?
JARROD LOOBEEK: Um, I think it's got to be lawn bowls. I mean, it's it is the curling of the curling of the summer games, I suppose. Yeah, I think that just needs to move into the Olympics. It's not going to, it doesn't take up much space. You can kind of run it where you run another event. I don't know what just put some green over the gymnastic map for the floor routine. I think, you know, I think lawn bowls is just an incredible sport. And it shows so well on TV, too.
BEN WATERWORTH: Oh, entertainment galore. I think the curling was exciting. Colin, are you a lawn bowls aficionado? I mean, as you know, Jarrod just said, it is the curling of the Commonwealth Games.
COLIN HILDING: I'm Googling it for the first time in my life right now, because believe it or not, it's just not get a lot of TV coverage here in Canada. Really? I thought it would be up your alley. But I just noticed Bowles Manitoba, Inc. I guess the official lawn bowling page of Winnipeg, Manitoba. I've discovered this here for the first time, so maybe I can join. And they officially have a five-star rating from one person who's rated it. So it's exciting. 209 people have liked the page, though. The one thing I'm interested to see is some of these sports, though, because I don't know if we're going to talk about the TV coverage at all, but Canada doesn't actually have TV coverage this time.
BEN WATERWORTH: You don't. It's all you do.
COLIN HILDING: We don't. This is first. Are you going to talk about this? Because I'm going to talk for a little while on it.
BEN WATERWORTH: No, look, I'll come back to the sports because I have a few things there, but I'm intrigued now you're bringing up this, because how can you not have coverage of the Commonwealth Games?
COLIN HILDING: Well, this is the first time where Canada has not had TV coverage, and they made a big deal about that, and they tried to spin this like it was a good thing. Now, I'm completely up in the air as to whether it's a good thing or not. So people can't see it unless we're doing a video thing like Billy Garcia does right now. But my profile pic is the DAZN logo, which is a new streaming sports app that is sweeping Canada by storm right now, because they are the official coverage of the Commonwealth Games, the only coverage of the Commonwealth Games. Now, it sounds really lame like, oh, we have an app, and that's all we have. No CBC, no TSN, nothing. But I guess they paid a lot of money for this, and this DAZN, which is big in other countries around the world, and it just expanded to Canada. I mean, they're spending a lot of money right now. They just last year, I guess, got the Canadian rights for NFL coverage, for streaming NFL coverage. So it's the only place in Canada where you can legally watch any NFL game live, you know, on a Sunday or Monday or whatever. And this is, I guess, their second big thing. So it's this huge app that's trying to, I guess, get some traction here in Canada. And this experiment, it's just weird to me that I'm not going to watch this on TV. I am glad that DAZN, within the last few months, has added Google Chromecast. So I will have the ability to watch this on my TV when cast is not watching Peppa Pig. But the reviews for Chromecast seem to be pretty unimpressed. So it's going to be very hit and miss, I feel, as to what I'm going to be able to watch on here. And it may end up being amazing. And I'll be like, I'm subscribing to DAZN for $20 a month, or $150 annually if you want to save $90. But I don't know. I get a free one-month trial. So I'm biding my time closer. If it turns out to be great, I'll get two months where I can watch old NFL games or European soccer.
BEN WATERWORTH: April 3rd, a lot of people will be signing up for their month-free trial, I believe. Okay, that's great. I mean, I guess it's the way of the future. I think we kind of had a similar thing here. Wasn't it Jarrod with the English Premier League? I know that Optus, I think, bought the rights, and they're kind of more of an online subscription service, which was sort of a unique thing for Australia, and the English Premier League is obviously quite popular. And we had a few sort of experimental things, I think, over the years with a lot of these sports events, kind of with the Olympics in particular. And I think they did this with the Commonwealth Games, maybe in Melbourne, where you'd have your main channel sort of doing some TV stuff, but then they would offshoot it to one of our pay services. You know, like Foxtel would be able to do it and things like that. But yeah, that's unique. It kind of really does show Canada's care factor for the Commonwealth Games. I just wanted to quickly backtrack to this book because I want to talk about Channel 7 and some of the athletes and everything along those lines. But in terms of the sports, so there are core sports that they have to have at every Commonwealth Games. Those are athletics, badminton, boxing, hockey. Lawn bowls is a core sport. So is netball, rugby, sevens, squash, swimming and weightlifting. So they're the core sports. Then you have optional sports where basically each organising committee can choose from these. They are archery, basketball, beach volleyball, cycling, diving, gymnastics, judo, rowing, shooting, synchronised swimming, table tennis, tennis, triathlon, and wrestling. So ultimately on that one, tennis is no longer here. Now I know that was in Glasgow. Archery, I can never remember that being a Commonwealth Games sport. Judo is not there this year, is it not? Did I not say that? No, it's not. And then the recognised sports that they obviously can choose from. Cricket, which I wanna talk to you about in a second. Fencing, 10-pin bowling. I remember that in 98 when they had that in Kuala Lumpur. And water polo. I just have to say this. Cricket is the one sport that just baffles me. It was in 1998. They had it once. Only Commonwealth nations play cricket. How is this not a Commonwealth Games sport? With the invention of 2020. Jarrod, I don't know how much of a cricket fan you are, but like, I mean, this surely has to, I did not get how this is not a Commonwealth Games sport.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, it doesn't make sense to me. Surely you picked the sports to add that your country is good at and is gonna win like a medal in. And yeah, with cricket, you think we'd be guaranteed at least some sort of medal, but yeah, I just don't, I suppose it makes sense why kind of the others aren't in, archery, I mean, we'd probably still do all right, but it's not like we're world champions in that. But I think, yeah, you pick the sports that you're good at and it baffles me why cricket isn't in there.
BEN WATERWORTH: And this is my question, Colin, when I say about wrestling, I'm not going into my criticism of the sport in general. I question why it's a Commonwealth sport because to me, the best countries in the world in wrestling are like your Russia's, your Georgia's. Like, I know America's good. I know you guys are good at it.
COLIN HILDING: Caribbean.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, well, like, I mean, besides you and the Caribbean, who's good at wrestling? Like, I mean, are we going to get the great Fijian and the Papua New Guineans and like the Isle of Man coming through in the wrestling from the Commonwealth Games?
COLIN HILDING: Yeah, I mean, I'm okay with it because we do great in wrestling. And I think that's why it's so popular here in Canada, not to mention, I mean, Bret Hart is pretty much a saint in this country. And we know it's a different sport, but, you know, he was an amateur wrestler in high school. It has relevance here. We're all kind of hoping that somebody comes out with those pink sunglasses and gives a sharp shooter to somebody. Yeah, but I mean, cricket's exciting for me too, because I don't really get to watch a lot of it, nor have I ever really wanted to watch it. And it's not some of this big here, just as an example of why it's not big. There was that movie that came out a couple years ago, Million Dollar Arm with John Hamm in it, about the true story about the guy who looked for cricket players in India to play in Major League Baseball. And my brother and I went past this, that movie, went to see it, and I'm like, man, this looks like a fun sport. And I asked this one friend of mine, who moved here from India maybe a little over 10 years ago. And I was asking him, he's like, oh yeah, he's like, I subscribe to this app where they just have cricket all day. It's like, you should just come over and watch 24 hours of cricket with me because they air just game after game after game for 24 hours. And he's saying how big this is in India. And he's like, yeah, basically there, the way that hockey and curling is here. It's like, when you're in school, you play tennis and you play cricket. And I'm asking him, like, you know, is there any, I'm asking him, like, is there a big league here in Canada? He goes, oh yeah, you can go to pretty much any park in the city here and see a bunch of Indian guys playing every single Sunday. That's the excitement in Canada. It's like, we have these groups of Indian immigrants that play cricket, but I always, I thought the game looked really fascinating and it looked kind of exciting, like an slightly exciting version of baseball. So I'm excited to watch it.
BEN WATERWORTH: It, well, it's ultimately not in the Commonwealth game, sadly, Colin, so you won't get to see it.
COLIN HILDING: But we'll see.
BEN WATERWORTH: It also depends on, I guess, the version of cricket you're watching, because there are three types. There is the 2020 version, which lasts a couple hours, which is the exciting, exciting one. There is one day cricket, which, as it sounds, takes one day, kind of, you know, basically like an eight hour game, essentially. And then there's test matches, which is the traditional sort of prestigious form of cricket, which can take up to five days to complete. So, uh...
COLIN HILDING: Well, if it's not on the Commonwealth games, then when you come here to Winnipeg, we're going to go to a Cinnabon park and watch a bunch of guys from India play cricket in Winnipeg.
BEN WATERWORTH: Jarrod, are you a cricket fan? I don't think you really are. I've never really talked to you about cricket before.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Not really. I played a bit as a junior, and I kind of feel like I would just waste like four years of my life in a sport that... I mean, cricket, like to me, my highlight cricket moment as a junior is somebody caught the ball with their arms folded, which just to me is how cricket was in the field, like so boring, just like fold your arms. Like this is a boring sport out in the sun. You get to bat and then you get out and it's boring, and fielding is just... Yeah, I mean, catch a ball with your arms folded is about the level of entertainment it gets to when you're playing a longer form of cricket. But I do think that 2020 is a good invention, and it is a lot more exciting to watch.
BEN WATERWORTH: Unless you're a wicket keeper or a bowler, yeah, cricket's kind of boring in the field. I mean, as a Tasmanian, it's kind of our only national sport that we have, I guess, teams in the national competitions, and great news for us. I'm sure all our Tasmanian listeners are excited that Tasmania just made the final of the prestigious Sheffield Shield competition this week. So, we'll probably lose it like we did in the 2020 with the Hobart Hurricanes. But yeah, I mean, it's baffling why it's not a Commonwealth sport. But I mean, have you learnt more about netball, Colin? I think we discussed this on another episode once before, but you know, netball.
COLIN HILDING: I know Jarrod had a profile pic of a bunch of, it looked like old ladies playing netball for like a year and a half, and that was my exposure to it. But that's another one that I'm excited to watch. Don't tell me that's not on it. Oh, it's definitely. You're not even gonna crush all my juice.
BEN WATERWORTH: Netball, I mean, it is probably the most popular women's sport in the Commonwealth, well, at least in Australia by far. I mean, that is one sport featuring, I mean, it's only played by women. I mean, men can play it. Jarrod obviously played netball, but like as in national competitions, and there's only women's netball like in the Commonwealth Games. But I mean, that is one women's sport where you will get to sell out crowds, and it will be on prime TV here. And it's probably the only main female-led sport where you actually get a very big following.
COLIN HILDING: Yeah, I mean, any type of team sport especially that's a new sport that I haven't seen, because it's good to watch these individual sports on the Olympics. And then sometimes when it's over, like the winter games just ended. And I think it was two weeks later, CBC had their afternoon coverage of all the winter sports, and moguls was on, which of course I watched. And then it was snowboard cross. And I'm like, oh, I love this during the Olympics. And I think maybe like halfway through the quarterfinals, I'm like, yeah, I'll skip this. I'll just lead off the PBR. But with team sports, it's great to get into because you can get behind teams. You can follow it throughout a season and all that. And I'm really hopeful that this app will give me exposure to great sports like netball. And then I can watch the DAZ, then exclusive coverage of the European Netball League.
BEN WATERWORTH: Well, I don't think such a thing would exist in the world, but sadly, Canada does not have a team. Canada does not have a netball team. Well, there's no Canadian team. Oh no, the team's in the netball, just for you, Colin. You can pick a team here. I mean, we guarantee the gold medal match will be between Australia and New Zealand. It always is. And it's kind of a great rivalry, but you can also support England. They're pretty good. Jamaica are pretty good actually in netball. Then the other ones that sort of make up the numbers, we have South Africa, Malawi, Fiji, Wales, Uganda, Northern Ireland, Barbados, and Scotland. Take your pick there, Colin Hilding.
COLIN HILDING: Oh, oh, I'm gonna go for Barbados just because I want to visit there. But this is funny because when you look, I just pulled up, I thought you were lying, but I pulled up Canada at the 2018 Commonwealth Games. Canada is expected to compete in all sports on the program except netball, which should fail to qualify in. One sport we can't, you know, like, it's not like we have a lot of competition. We should be in every single sport. We can't even qualify in netball. The only sport we can't qualify in. This is so embarrassing.
BEN WATERWORTH: It's the Nordic combined of the Commonwealth Games, clearly.
COLIN HILDING: You'd be a Jarrod on our team if we'd qualify.
BEN WATERWORTH: Well, of course, he'd be the captain, the coach, and everything, because he's an Australian. Like, I mean, that's like if Jarrod and I moved to Canada, which, you know, we're trying, well, at least one of us is, and we were to, like, go into a cricket team, even if we've never played the sport before, we'd automatically be made the captain because we're Australian. It'd be like, if you came to, you know, Australia, and I'm like, I want to play ice hockey. Oh, Canadian, you're the captain of the team. Have you ever played hockey before? Nope, doesn't matter, you're Canadian. So I'm sure you're the best. Before, I want to talk a little bit about kind of, like, the history of Australia. I know we kind of touched on it loosely now, Pyeongchang one, but a little bit more in depth. But just quickly on the TV coverage, just while that was on the topic, just for an Australian standpoint, yay, Channel 7 had the games, woo! I mean, Jarrod, the differences, of course, I think, between them doing this and the Olympics, is the fact that we win so many goddamn medals every day that we actually probably will actually get to see a fair bit of spread of competition. At least I'm hoping. I mean, as I said, I think it was 2002, the last time Channel 7 actually had the Commonwealth Games. It's been shared between Channel 9 and Channel 10 recently. But I mean, I don't really know what question I'm gonna ask you here, except you're looking forward to seeing Channel 7 show plenty of highlights of Chumpy Pullin and all that again during this. I don't know. It's all gonna be about the Plady Campbell sisters, probably.
COLIN HILDING: Yeah, I think you're right.
JARROD LOOBEEK: But yeah, I suppose that is the upside of winning so many medals and being in about every single event as compared to the Winter Olympics. It's just that hopefully we will kind of just get to see a little bit of everything because they have an excuse to show everything because every sport will have at least one Australian in it. So that's the upside where you can't really get the commentary too wrong.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, exactly. Now, just to go over kind of some history and stuff now, the all time medal count of the Commonwealth Games. It's a beautiful sight to look at this because in first, after 20 appearances at the Commonwealth Games, Australia leads the medal tally. We have 852 gold, 716 silver, 650 bronze, 2,218 in total. England a second, but Canada a third on an all time summer medals count in a multi-sport event with 469 gold, 476 silver, and typically they've got more bronzes than in the other ones, of course. 528 for a total of 1,473. So I mean, this is the thing, like as much as you guys might not pay attention to this, Colin, Canada are actually pretty good at the Commonwealth Games.
COLIN HILDING: Yeah, which is why I mean, we should be watching, this should be on a network because this app is probably just gonna be carrying Australian coverage and Jamaican coverage and Mozambique coverage, and we're not even gonna get our own commentators talking about how great we are.
BEN WATERWORTH: It's fascinating to look at this. The top five, I mean, God, okay, maybe I'll take that back about how Canada can be good, because if New Zealand can make the top five of a multi-sport event, maybe something's wrong. So India are fourth, New Zealand fifth, South Africa are only in sixth. I'd assume South Africa would be better than New Zealand, but what do I know? Scotland seventh, because this is the thing I also like about the Commonwealth Games is the fact that England competes sort of separately. So to Scotland, so to Wales, so to Northern Ireland, it's not sort of just the United Kingdom. Kenya in eighth, Nigeria in ninth, Wales in tenth. Interestingly, Jamaica are only 12th. I wonder if all of them come in athletics and cycling, just like the Olympics. There are a bunch, the spread of the Commonwealth Games is good, because the current Commonwealth members who have no medals is only, I think, about 20 here. So even Norfolk Island, which is what? A government-recognised island of Australia. It's not its own state, it's not its territory. What even is Norfolk Island, Jarrod? But they somehow get to compete in the Commonwealth Games. I don't understand what they are.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, no idea.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, they've got a tree on their flag. But on the last guy, this is redemption, though, for Australia, I think, Jarrod, because in both yours and my lifetime, we were lucky enough to say that Australia had never not finished on top of the medal tally at the Commonwealth Games. Until last time in Glasgow, we were second. We were second in the Commonwealth Games. England beat us. We only just beat Canada. This isn't good enough, Jarrod. We need to redeem ourselves in these games.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, absolutely. It's not like it was like they just beat us. They kind of beat us by like 10 medals or more in really kind of gold, silver and bronze. So, yeah, it was a bit of a clean sweep across the board there. So I'm hoping that usually your home games, you kind of win a couple more medals. The judges are a little bit more lenient. They bump up your scores a little. So I'm gonna put that down to, well, I mean, Glasgow, close enough to England. So that's kind of why they're on top there. But now this time, it's gonna swing back to us and we're gonna run away with it.
BEN WATERWORTH: Well, it's just, it'd be embarrassing to finish it. I mean, we know that England obviously have pumped a lot in, you know, around London in 2012, and they had a very successful Rio. Were they not second on the metal tally for a memory there, weren't they? So, you know, it's a bit of danger really there to think that they could possibly do it in our own backyard, which they're probably, I'm sure, coming here wanting to do. But in Glasgow, I mean, it's kind of interesting to turn around and say we were disappointed with second. We still did win 49 gold, 42 silver, 46 bronze for a lazy total of 137. Canada, in the meantime, won 32 gold, 16 silver, and of course, the most bronze, 34 bronze. And just looking here, so in 2014, the most of our medals, 19 gold, 21 silver, and 17 bronze in swimming, just a few, followed by athletics, where we get eight gold, one silver, three bronze in cycling, seven gold, nine silver, eight bronze for Canada. What do you think your top sport was, Colin? I don't know if you got this in front of you. I want to give you a bit of trivia. Here, give me your top three. What's your guess in your top three?
COLIN HILDING: I'm going to say netball, lawn balls, and of course, steel cage wrestling.
BEN WATERWORTH: Well, you actually did get a silver medal in lawn bowls, funnily enough, in class one, so congratulations. And a bronze in table tennis, there you go. And a gold in badminton, holy crap. No, you got the most in gymnastics, eight gold, three silver, four bronze. Wrestling, seven gold, two silver, three bronze. And athletics, five gold, two silver, ten bronze. I mean, gymnastics, I mean, that's one that I kind of like in the Commonwealth Games, because we generally, actually, Australia gets some medals in gymnastics, and we never do anywhere else. But I mean, that's a big one for Canada, surely, Colin. I mean, clearly, you won the most in Glasgow, and you guys are fairly decent in gymnastics.
COLIN HILDING: Yeah, well, I mean, I remember in Rio, it was a big deal that Canada, I think we placed fourth, which for the Olympics, that was huge for us. But gymnastics isn't actually that big here. It's weird, because of all the sports you mentioned there, gymnastics is the only one that kind of surprised me. And I'm sure we have a good amount of success in gymnastics. It doesn't really get a lot of coverage. It's not like wrestling or swimming or athletics or anything like that.
BEN WATERWORTH: Interesting. I will say Canada have finished on top of the medal tally at the Commonwealth Games before, back when you hosted it in 1978 in Edmonton. But if you are to break a record, Canada, in order to win in terms of their total medals, you got 129 in your home games in Victoria. So whether or not you can top that, who knows? And most gold was 45 in Edmonton. For Australia, I'm gonna assume that it would have been Melbourne when we got that. No, actually, the most gold we've ever won was actually in Victoria in 1994, 87 gold. But the most in total was Melbourne, 221 medals. 221 medals, 221 medals! That's a pretty poor effort, isn't it? I think 250, Jarrod, is doable this time around.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, exactly.
BEN WATERWORTH: That's crazy, 221 medals. A few things to note, though, I think it's important to mention about these Commonwealth Games. This is the very first time, and I think just for a multi-sport event, not just for a Commonwealth Games, that there will be equal number of men's and women's medal events. But I do believe, though, there are still perhaps more female competitors than men. I don't know if that's exactly true. The most-
COLIN HILDING: Netball.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, well, it really does come down to netball, because I think every other sport is men and women. There will be more paris sport events in this games than any others, I believe, as well. There's gonna be 275 events in 19 sports, with 71 nations. I believe there actually might be more athletes in the Commonwealth Games than there were in the Winter Olympics, if I'm not mistaken, which is funny, because, you know, there's what? Well, there's about 80 nations in the Winter Olympics. But yeah, the Commonwealth Games is still regarded, I think, in the top five biggest sporting events in the world, so, and we did beat the Gold Coast, I should say, beat the great city of Hambantota in Sri Lanka, was the only other bidding city for 2000\. Wow, how would have they been? The Hambantota Games of 2018. I don't really know what else there much is to talk about. Our coverage is gonna be sporadic. We're not gonna guarantee daily coverage because I'm working during the Games. I've just announced that again. So obviously my schedule is gonna be a bit all over the place because I'm gonna probably be having long days and late nights. Might also get told not to cover them at all. I might not be allowed to, I don't know. But yeah, how are we gonna do this? We might just come back a week after and be like, hey, look how well it's going. What did you think? Have you got your $20? Oh, you're gonna get a free trial, aren't you? Well, I mean, if you got your free trial, Colin, we can try and work this out, I guess.
COLIN HILDING: Yeah, I'm sure we'll have some type of coverage. It just depends on whether it's gonna be you talking about a lot of boxing and nothing else, me talking about my app went down in the middle of Netball, or Jarrod just carrying the torch and giving us daily recaps on everything that he actually had proper coverage on.
BEN WATERWORTH: It's not the torch, Colin, it's the Queen's Baton. All right, just get it right. Jarrod, I mean, okay, one thing I'll say, opening ceremony, we're gonna think about what this is gonna be because if you're ever gonna watch last week tonight with John Oliver, they kind of have a segment called Why Is This Still A Thing? And Google, it's on YouTube, it's quite funny. They did one for 2014 and they're like, why is this still a thing, the Commonwealth Games? And they likened the opening ceremony at the Commonwealth Games to an off-Broadway production of the Olympic opening ceremony. I remember 2006 in Melbourne, you had the flying tram and the boy with the duck. That's great memories. I cannot remember anything from the Glasgow opening ceremony. Oh, I vaguely remember bagpipes. And I remember the closing ceremony, Kylie Minogue, and some random athlete jumping up on stage and dancing with her. But yeah, I mean, there's gonna be lots of surfing, I'm guessing, Jarrod, lots of relations to the beach. I mean, it's a very beachy area here in Queensland. So I mean, any predictions for that? And also, who's the final batten bearer? Because that's kind of like who's the one who lights the torch. It's basically whoever hands the batten to Prince Charles will be the torch lighter, I guess.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Hmm, yeah. Who would be... I mean, Barnaby Joyce is probably front runner for that, given his popularity at the moment.
BEN WATERWORTH: Colin gets it.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Other predictions, yeah. I think surfing is going to be... I'm hoping that we're seeing a surfing kangaroo at some point.
BEN WATERWORTH: Oh, yes.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Just going to put that out there.
BEN WATERWORTH: And there's also ultimately got to be, you know, singers like Jessica Malboy probably warming up for Eurovision. I think Dami Imz from the Gold Coast, is she not? Yeah, I've just Googled famous... Guy Sebastian? Well, look, Guy Sebastian, you know, I don't think he's a Queenslander, but you know, he's probably still somewhere around there. I'm trying to think in terms of like famous golfers, I'm looking here at the word golf, that's why I say that, Gold Coast personalities, because I've just found here top 50 Queensland sports stars of the past 40 years. But whether or not these are specifically Gold Coast, I mean, Greg Norman, our great golfer, number one, Wally Lewis, rugby, but I mean, I guess that's not really Commonwealth sport. Kieran Perkins, I mean, I'd like to say that I'm a big Kieran Perkins fan, but I think he's more Brisbane than the Gold Coast. Cathy Freeman, I didn't realise she was from Queensland, but there you go, Susie O'Neill, I mean, some big names here, Pat Rafter, lots of rugby people, of course. Alan Borda Cricket, there's one that I know you absolutely love, Colin. But I mean, you know, if they go for someone current, Sally Pearson, I guess, Jarrod, I think she's from the Gold Coast, you know, and she's ultimately, you know, Olympic gold medallist, one of our, you know, favourites to win another medal here. I'm sure you're really up on the Queensland Sporting Stars. I'm really putting in there. Stephen Bradbury's a Queenslander, get him out there. Come on. Just get him to fall over.
COLIN HILDING: Skating out onto the field.
BEN WATERWORTH: Let's have everyone fall over. And as everyone does, here comes Stephen Bradbury with the Queen's bat in your majesty. Here is the batten. I don't know where I'm going with this. I'm just stretching this episode out. Anything else that? Go Colin. And Ashley, you can also, while you talk, who should be your flag bearer? Andre de Grasse, is he competing?
COLIN HILDING: Oh, we named our flag bearer. Yeah, Megan Benfetto is named our flag bearer, who's a diver who has won Olympic medals, Commonwealth medals, Pan American, everything. But Andre de Grasse, he was supposed to be there. And I was on my way home from work. I was five minutes from home. I see a notification on my phone. Andre de Grasse pulled out of the Commonwealth Games so he could focus on training for the athletic season. And that's the second one we lost.
BEN WATERWORTH: Who misses the athletic season? Come on.
COLIN HILDING: Exactly. Yeah. But I mean, he also missed the World Championships last year because of an injury, and that was like his last chance to prove that he could have been the guy to beat Usain Bolt in Usain Bolt's only race. He probably would have been. But I don't know. He's probably just being overly paranoid because of that. You know, he wants to be World Champion. But he's gone. We still have our swimmers like Penny Alexiak.
BEN WATERWORTH: So Penny's coming?
COLIN HILDING: Penny is, yeah. But again, if you watched the World Championships last year, it wasn't really the same type of success she had in Rio. But then we had like Kylie Mass who set a world record and she's our new star. I'm just also sad, not just Andre Degrasse, but Mandy Bujold who is like Canada's greatest boxer, who would have been great for you to be able to talk to and interview Mandy Bujold or line up for an interview for me or whatever. But she dropped out too and decided to focus on nothing for this year so that she could somehow be ready for Tokyo in 2020. So she's pulling out of all competition for a year.
BEN WATERWORTH: Two years away. Goodness, this is training.
COLIN HILDING: All these Canadians.
BEN WATERWORTH: This is again, and this is the thing too. This is the Commonwealth Games. If you're like one of them, you're pretty much guaranteed a medal. Like who's going to beat Andre Degrasse? The same bolt's not there. Like come on, like he's basically the next best. That's crazy. Is Tessa Virtue and Scott Moyer going to be competing somehow? Like I mean, hot commodities, gymnastics or something like that?
COLIN HILDING: No, but I mean, what makes us even more annoying is that we have, you're going to mock wrestling, but Erika Wiebe, who won the gold medal in the Rio Olympics, and she also won the gold medal in Glasgow as well. She's coming back and like she's all over the place here in Canada. She's, I would argue, maybe been made a bigger deal after the Rio Games than even DeGrasse. She's got like, I think it was a Toyota commercial. She's like a new sponsor for Toyota or whatever. She's been seen all over the place at like WWE events. Like they're actually really trying to court her, and she's appearing at like, you know, pay-per-views and stuff backstage. So here's somebody who has like everything in the world, and she's like, I have time for the Commonwealth Games. And Audrey DeGrasse, no, I want to make sure I'm ready for the competitive season by skipping the opening of the competitive season.
BEN WATERWORTH: Ridiculous, ridiculous. What about our walking friend that you interviewed on the show?
COLIN HILDING: Yes. Yeah. Well, I'm excited that we are going to have Evan Dunphy there. I'm sad for Evan Dunphy though, because you may be the only person competing in the Commonwealth Games who's been on Off The Podium, which means sorry you're not winning a medal.
BEN WATERWORTH: Well, I don't know if what's her name, the shooter, the one gold in Rio might be there. Why have I gone blank in her name, Jarrod? Help me out here.
COLIN HILDING: Don't remember her name. If you remember her name, she's not going to win.
BEN WATERWORTH: She's not going to win.
JARROD LOOBEEK: We've got to reverse the curse.
BEN WATERWORTH: Reverse the curse, Ghost Island, come on.
COLIN HILDING: Whoever you are, you're dead to Off The Podium.
BEN WATERWORTH: What's her name? God damn it. What's her name?
COLIN HILDING: Stop trying to remember her name.
BEN WATERWORTH: Why have we gone blank? I'm just driving a strategy to Rio gold. Catherine Skinner, there we go.
COLIN HILDING: I love that that's your go-to to find who's on Off The Podium and not our own page.
BEN WATERWORTH: Oh, we love all the athletes who have been on this show. Thank you so much. We appreciate your time and effort. Your flag bearers are already being named. I'm going to say Sally Pearson will be, if she's not going to be a Queen's Baton, the final bearer is Jarrod. I'm going to say she's going to be our flag bearer. Do you think we might have someone different?
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, I think she can probably just do both, just strap the baton to the flag.
COLIN HILDING: Halfway around the stadium.
BEN WATERWORTH: Here you go, Mr. Charles Prince. Here's the baton handed over. Just pass it off there. Yeah, it's getting exciting. It's actually, at the time of recording this, obviously now we're less than a month. I mean, at the time of recording this, the games will be over in a month's time. So it's going to be extremely fascinating, and I'm excited. And ultimately, being able to work here, it's definitely going to be a lot of fun. Any closing remarks on the games before we get into them? I mean, we haven't even mentioned Barobi, our beloved mascot. I've actually got a little Barobi toy sitting above me right now on my desk. I've got a Barobi notebook in front of me, Barobi stickers, Barobi crazy right down the Gold Coast. Much better than Burang and Surang. I've seen some of the Paralympics with whichever one the Paralympics one is. I think it's Burang, isn't it?
JARROD LOOBEEK: Burang.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yep. Any thoughts on Barobi, Jarrod? There's a blue koala.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, I think, I mean, it's a solid mascot. 8 out of 10.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, 8 out of 10. Better than that. They had a bloody cockatoo, didn't they, for Melbourne? It was an ugly thing. It's very well promoted, I will say, whether you like it or not. Like, the social media and kind of so much stuff around Barobi is actually really well done. And follow him. Barobi 2018, I think it is. Any thoughts on Barobi at all, Colin?
COLIN HILDING: Every time I see any of these mascots, I know you're like, oh, this one's better than this one, but I want to buy these for Casper because he loves these things. Like, he loves his Muck Muck from Vancouver and his whatever. I can't even remember the name now of the weird sun creature from the Canada game. So if you can pick up a cheap one of those and then bring it for Casper, I will gladly reimburse you for it.
BEN WATERWORTH: I was just about to say to you, I will get another one during the games. I mean, there's about three super stores around the Gold Coast. Every time I go somewhere, I see some sort of store with merchandise. So by all means, I will pick you up a Barobi and bring it over to you when I'm next in Winnipeg.
COLIN HILDING: And you know what? I do remember the name of the Canada game. So this is Neben. And I have a container of honey with Neben's face on it that I will give you in return.
BEN WATERWORTH: Oh, look at you. Look at you. This is good trading here.
COLIN HILDING: I've been using it since August, so there's not much left, but you can still have the container.
BEN WATERWORTH: Well, thank you. It's ultimately the thought that counts. So I appreciate that. But yeah, as I said before, we're not 100% certain on how we will be able to cover in terms of our time and everything along those lines. We'll aim for at least a couple. I mean, we'd love to do daily ones, but at the end of the day, there's probably not a whole lot we can do there around the time zones and everything. And, yes, Jarrod, sorry. Jarrod has just given me the great reminder here. Thank you, Jarrod. Metal predictions. We did this for the first time in Pyeongchang and got fairly close, all of us. But this one should be more interesting. Metal predictions for how both Canada and Australia would do at the Commonwealth Games. All right. You can start us off, Jarrod. It seems as you are the one who brought up this with. So Australia and Canada, metal predictions for the Commonwealth Games. We got a pen and paper ready to go here.
JARROD LOOBEEK: So for Australia, I'm going to say 53 gold, backing that up with 47 silver and 49 bronze. And then Canada, oh Canada, 29 gold, 20 silver and 27 bronze.
BEN WATERWORTH: Oh, more gold than bronze. That's very un-Canadian. All right, Colin, over to you.
COLIN HILDING: I'm going to say for Australia, I'll go with 51 golds. I will go with 45 silver, and I'll go with 41 bronze. Just completely off the top of my head. And then Canada, I'm going to say 33 golds, because we lost to grass, but we're going to improve at least one, because we've got the swimmers. I'm going to say 20 silver, and I'm going to say 31 bronze.
BEN WATERWORTH: Oh, God, look at you two, both thinking that the bronzes are going to be down. How very un-Canadian that they would win so little bronze. I feel like I'm going to get Mallory to give predictions to, because she'll be here with me in a couple of days, and sort of working in the games herself. So it'll be interesting to kind of see from her perspective now that she's got both camps as well. All right, you two, you are underestimating the hell out of Australia. Can I just say 53 and 51? Go away. Australia will win 76 gold. Don't laugh. We won 84 in Melbourne and 74 in Delhi, so that's doable. 76 gold. We will win 53 silver, and we will win 84 bronze. Bumping the bronze up. Do you want a grand total up? Insert number here once I get calculator. Canada, that's a good one. Let's see, how did you go in Glasgow here? 32 in Glasgow, only 26 in Melbourne and Delhi, so you've improved on the up by six. You've gone for 33. Well, I have to go for more. I'm going to go for 40 gold. Nice even number there. I'm going to have faith in the Canadians. We're going to put you at only 31 silver, and I'm going to go 62 bronze. I've got to go on the high end.
COLIN HILDING: Just out of curiosity, what was your gold medal prediction for Australia in Pyeongchang?
BEN WATERWORTH: I think I had three, didn't I, in Pyeongchang? I went for the highest in the gold from memory. I think I got the silver and bronze. Yeah, we all got very close, but I did say we'd win at least three gold, I think.
COLIN HILDING: We all got really close. We all predicted single digits. We got close.
BEN WATERWORTH: Okay, so 213 total for Australia, I've said there. For Canada, that's 40, 31, 62. 133 in total for Canada. Oh, my goodness. I need to rethink that maybe. For Colin, you've gone for Australia a total of 137. I reckon Australia's going to win about 70 more medals than you've predicted there, Colin. Canada, you have gone for a total of 84 medals. Wow, I have high hopes. And Jarrod, you have gone for a total of 149 there for Australia. And for Canada, you have gone for a total of 76. So there you go. If we don't do it daily, if we even just do one wrap up, well, we don't know again, but we've at least got the medal predictions there. I love it. We get extra competitive. But we're looking forward to it no matter what happens. This is the first time Off The Podium we can officially say one of us is covering the Games from the area that they're in. So we look forward to all of us being in Tokyo together in two years' time. Jarrod, bring on the Games. Bring on the Commonwealth Games. This is exciting. I'm pumped up and excited.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, bring on the Lawn Bowls and the Netball and the Squash.
BEN WATERWORTH: Maybe we can be lucky to be on air one time when the Lawn Bowls is on and do some commentary or something like that. And Colin, I really hope that your N-V-D-R or whatever the hell it is gets exciting for you and your free trial works and that Canada can bring the glory of the gold across the Pacific and dominate the Commonwealth.
COLIN HILDING: Yeah, thanks for nothing, Andre de Grasse.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yes, Andre de Grasse. What are you doing? All right, at least I get to see... I'm going to try and buy me the penny. My goal is to meet Penny Alexiak and Eliza McCartney if I can get them together. That's even more of a thing.
COLIN HILDING: Get a boxing ring.
BEN WATERWORTH: Well, they can switch sports. They can be... What's the name? Lodeca. You know, and just switch sports over. But yes, like us on Facebook and remember to subscribe. And as I said, we'll have some sporadic updates throughout the games of when we can do episodes and ultimately cover these games. It was very, very exciting. Our first ever Commonwealth Games coverage. And we're very excited to bring them to this. This has been Off The Podium. My name is Ben and we'll speak to you soon. Good night.
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